Caves and Lincoln

Today we went to Mammoth Caves National Park.  It was in the Central time zone so it only took us 10 minutes to get there.  As we entered the park there was a deer in the road and again as we left the park there was another deer.  Also saw many turkeys.  We took a short tour of the caves--1.25 hours and a 3/4 mile walk.  The available tours varied in length and went from easy to strenuous, crawling on the ground type.  Not the most dynamic of guides or the best tour.  Many were sold out even at 10am.  This park is the second oldest tourist attraction, the first is Niagara Falls.  The surrounding area is just full of tourist trap places and gift shops.  We got a national park stamp and checked off another of our 1000 places to see before we die (thanks Sara).

We then went off to find Abraham Lincoln's birthplace.  Well off the beaten path but on the way home.  There are actually three sites in the area but we only made it to this one.  We were back in Eastern time so lost the hour we gained in the morning. A thunder storm arrived just as we did so our tour involved a bit of a run to the visitors center.  The "inn" is a museum which we didn't get into due to the lack of time.  It is named after Abe's mother.

The memorial has the log cabin inside of it.  The stairs leading up represent Lincoln's age at death--56.  The cornerstone was laid by Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft dedicated it in 1911.  Just to the left of the memorial is the sinking spring which still produces fresh water.  The grounds are beautiful and include a couple of trails to hike.  We didn't get to walk around too much because of a good sized thunder storm while we were there.
Another long day but we came home to spaghetti sauce in the crock pot, oh how I love my little baby crock pot.  Not sure what the agenda is for tomorrow, we are still debating the issue, until then...